Significant advances have been made over the past two decades in crop management techniques, improved farming practices, and chemical treatment, which provide increased sugar yields from sugarcane. In particular, soil enrichment programs, controlled irrigation and development of new varieties of sugarcane, have all aided in enhancing yields of sugar from cane. Additionally, it has been found that certain chemicals, when applied to growing cane several weeks prior to harvest, have improved sucrose levels in maturing sugarcane plants. Among the chemicals which have recently been found to be effective for this purpose are chlorocholine chloride, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, trichlorobenzoic acid, .beta.,.beta.,.beta.-trichloroethanephosphonic acid, N,N-bis(phosphoromethyl)glycine and tetradecyltrimethylammonium chloride. While these compounds have met with some success as ripening agents and sugar enhancing agents for sugarcane they are not, however, entirely satisfactory. It would therefore be advantageous if a novel class of chemicals could be found which would, when applied to sugarcane, enhance sugar yields therefrom.
Heretofore, chemicals selected for evaluation as sucrose yield enhancing agents for sugarcane have generally been those previously found to be plant growth regulating agents, herbicides, plant hormones or the like. However, among those compounds which have been found to be effective for the purposes mentioned above, only a very few have been found to be effective for enhancing sucrose yields from sugarcane.
To date, no correlation has been shown between a chemical structure and its phytotoxic, hormonal or growth regulating effects on plants and said compounds effectiveness as a sucrose enhancing agent for sugarcane. As such, there has been, heretofore, no effective method for predicting whether a chemical compound would be effective for enhancing sugar yield in sugarcane.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a new class of chemical agents effective for controlling the ripening of sugarcane and enhancing the sucrose yield therefrom.